23rd July, 2012
For the second time in two years, Nigeria’s constitution is about to be amended. And in the course of the amendment, the 47-member Senate Committee on Review of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria promised Nigerians a brand new People’s Constitution by this time next year. The promise was made at the weekend in Asaba, the Delta State capital, during a retreat organised by the Senate committee.
We do hope this promise is not mere wishful thinking because previous attempts at constitution amendments fell far short of the expectations of Nigerians. They were wishy-washy amendments that were not far-reaching enough.
Since independence in 1960, Nigerians have never been lucky to have a constitution they can claim to have made major inputs into its making. This holds true for the 1979 and 1999 constitutions hurriedly put together by the military, which was in power in these two periods and foisted them on the people. The two constitutions disregarded the cardinal principle that says sovereignty resides in the people by ignoring the people’s inputs into their making. Clauses that suited the fancy of the ruling cabal and the elites were inserted into the constitutions without considering the people’s wish.
The deliberations and inputs by members of the Constituent Assemblies set up as precursor to the crafting of the 1979 and 1999 constitutions did not reflect the wishes of the people. That is why the recent promise by the Senate Committee on Constitution Review has been received with a measure of skepticism in some quarters.
To be candid, the 1999 Constitution needs a lot of tinkering to properly address the needs of the people. This is reflected in the number of memoranda on the constitution review received by the Senate Committee. In all, 108 memoranda were received along with 56 requests for creation of new states. These, the committee said, it has crystallised into 16 critical areas for consideration. These include devolution of powers, fiscal federalism, local government autonomy, immunity clause, boundary adjustment, creation of more states, etc.
The issue of reviewing the existing revenue sharing formula between the Federal Government and the federating units (the state) is key to addressing the parlous state of communities where revenue is derived.
In the current circumstance, natural resources of communities are exploited by the Federal Government, leaving such communities degraded and in abject poverty.
Without a review of the existing revenue sharing formula, the Federal Government would continue to take the lion’s share of revenues derived from the states and leave the crumbs for such states which go cap in hand to the centre monthly. This lopsided arrangement has led to massive corruption at the centre and the underdevelopment of revenue-generating communities.
We expect the amended constitution to lay this contentious issue and similar ones to rest once and for all. Anything short of this will amount to taking the people for another ride and leaving the nation on tenterhooks.